Carbonite is similar to SOS Online backup in that it is intended to be computer backup, not additional storage like Amazon CloudDrive or Dropbox.

Space: Carbonite offers unlimited storage of backup from your main internal harddrive. Carbonite will not store data from external harddrives if you are using their "home" service. If you use their "small business" service this feature is offered. Files can be no larger than 4GB, which would make this not ideal if you have any HD video work you want to back up.

Reliability: Carbonite was founded in 2005. They claim that they have backed up over a 100 billion files and have restored over 7 billion files that would have been lost forever if they had not been backed up with Carbonite. Carbonite went public in the Stock Market on August 10, 2011 and their stock has been rising this week. Carbonite has a pretty high profile image and they should be around with your data for awhile.

Budget: There is a free 15 day trial. For $59.99 you can back up one computer with unlimited space. This is their "home" package. To back up external drives you need to go with their "Small Business" package which starts at $299.00 a year for 250GB.

File Sharing: No file sharing available.

Security: Carbonite uses a 128-bit Blowfish encryption for data back up and transmission. However part of the security of having your files backed up online is if your harddrive crashes you can always restore the file from their servers. In 2007 Carbonite purchased over 3 million dollars of faulty equipment, which resulted in the loss of customer data. Since then they have switched server providers. In general this is an issue that one should be aware of with all Cloud storage, not just Carbonite.

Platform Compatibility: PC/Mac, iphone, Android & Blackberry.

Interface: Interface is simple. When Carbonite is backing up your computer its is transparent. You don't notice. Recovering files is also very simple.

Conclusion: Carbonite is a no-frills back up service. If you are just looking for backup of your recording files in case of hard drive crash or any other computer tragedy than this sounds like it might be the right thing. They offer enough space for backing up recording files, but it means that you have to keep those files on your machine and can't have them on an external drive. Carbonite has been around for over 6 years doesn't seem to be going anywhere so I feel like my data is safe in that aspect. They use sophisticated encryption methods which is also assuring. They did have that data loss issue in 2007 due to faulty servers, but that seems to be a one off occurance. They stack up with SOS online and Drop box with their platform compatibility and easy interface. Where they fall down with me is on the lack of file sharing and the fact that they will not back up external hard drives. These are both deal breakers for me. However, if you don't need these features and just want a simple backup service, this may be the one for you.

Reliability: Dropbox has been around since 2008 and is reportedly valued at $10 million dollars. Dropbox is established enough that I don't believe it will be dissappearing with our data anytime soon, but the tech world can be a rollercoaster.

Budget: You can get a 2GB account with Dropbox for free and if you complete 5 of the "get started" steps you get an extra 250mb for a total of 2.25GB. It is possible to get more free storage by inviting friends as well. There is a 50GB account for $99.00/year and a 100GB account for $199.00/year. You can synch with multiple computers.

File Sharing: File sharing is really what Dropbox is all about. This is where the service excels. You can share folders with folks who don't even have Dropbox accounts which is a nice feature.

Security: Dropbox boasts Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and AES-256 bit encryption. They claim that their employees are prohibited from accessing user's data. This means though, that that could access it if they wanted to, but this type of issue is typical with cloud storage. You can read more HERE about that. Dropbox has had some security problems in the near past. On June 19, 2011 there was a window of time where a bug was introduced into Dropbox's authentication mechanism that allowed any password to work for an account. After about 4 hours, Dropbox had this fixed. You can read more about that HERE.

Interface: There are 2 interfaces really for Dropbox. The interface for most Dropbox transactions is almost disturbingly simple. You set up a "dropbox" directory on your computer and put the files you want to share or store on Dropbox into that folder and boom! they are transferred to your dropbox online storage. The second interface is through their website where you can manage your files, set up sharing, restore files based on versions, etc. Both are very intuitive and easy.

Conclusion: Based on my tour of Dropbox, I like how easy it is. I like that I can set up an account with 2.25GB for free and then upgrade to 50GB whenever I want. I like that getting to my data is simple and that it can be accessed by numerous PCs/Macs/Mobile devices. Dropbox hasn't been around for a decade like SOS or Amazon, but it is a popular service with a decent amount of funding so I think they will be around for awhile. If you want more than 2.25GB you do need to pony up for a larger account. Compared to SOS backup, I find Dropbox to be a little expensive: $99.99 a year for 50GB as compared to $79.00 a year for 50GB with SOS. The File sharing with Dropbox can't really be beat and is perfect for sharing with folks that aren't FTP savvy. I also really like the fact that you can roll back to different versions of files and if you accidently delete something it is recoverable. Despite Dropbox's security snafu in June I haven't been able to find anything out of the ordinary regarding breaches and I have friends who have used this service with no complaints. I like Dropbox and if it weren't for the cost and a few doubts I have about their security, I would say its right up there next to SOS as a possible solution for my back up needs.